LAS CRUCES >> A bill that could wind up curtailing the impact of Spaceport America sales tax dollars for public schools in Doña Ana and Sierra Counties passed in the state House last week, stirring unease among supporters of the dollars going to extra science and math education.

The bill's progress in a sluggish legislative session surprised some of its opponents.

"It's not time to fall on our sword or jump off the ledge, but it does create significant concern," said Terry Dean, assistant superintendent of finance for the Las Cruces Public Schools.

At issue, school officials have said, is that House Bill 13 would shrink the benefit of spaceport sales-tax dollars by 75 percent. It would change the way they were accounted for by wrapping the money for the first time into the state's school funding formula.

Though the measure cleared the House, it also would have to pass the Senate before noon Thursday — the end of the legislative session — to have a chance at becoming law.

Doña Ana County officials, who route a portion of spaceport tax dollars to local schools, mostly said that for now, they're waiting to see what happens over the next few days.

How the county will respond will depend on whether the bill passes and is signed into the governor and what the language specifically says, said Doña Ana County Commissioner Wayne Hancock.

"They may specify we can't use it for education, and that would be really sad," he said.

Hancock said that would go against promises made to county voters in 2007, when they opted to self-impose a spaceport sales tax upon themselves.

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"The idea is when you advertise a product, you ought to deliver the product you advertise. That's just fair," he said.

The bill would require spaceport sales-tax dollars for schools to be factored into the state "equalization" funding formula, which aims to minimize the financial disparities between affluent and poor school districts, school officials have said. And that would result in overall funding reductions for Doña Ana County and Sierra County schools.

Other options?

Hancock said he's been considering some options for how Doña Ana County could still spend the spaceport tax money on education.

"We could fund after-school robotics championships," he said. "We could endow a chair in engineering at the university, maybe in something like unmanned flight. So, there's a number of things, but it will be dependent upon what the change to the statute is."

Some lawmakers believe the spaceport sales-tax dollars create inequality in a system meant to promote equity in funding distribution. Others worried about a potential lawsuit arising against the state if the current practice of spaceport sales-tax spending in Doña Ana County and Sierra County remains unchanged.

State Rep. Larry Larrañaga, R-Albuquerque, who voted for HB 13 last week, said the topic is a "difficult" one, but his decision came down to trying to maintain equity.

"I know the county down there was using part of this money for some classes that are very good and they were providing part of that money for education," he said Friday. "But the issue is this would hurt the formula that apportions federal and local revenues for schools."

County Commission Chairman Billy Garrett said it's too early to tell what will happen with the legislation.

"It's not over until the Legislature is over; we just have to see how that plays out," he said. "Depending on what happens in the legislative session, it's likely that we'll take a fresh look at the way that we're distributing that revenue."

County Commissioner Leticia Duarte-Benavidez said the bill might merit another work session by the county commission to review the county's options now that the bill has cleared the House.

Next few days

State Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, said he attempted to introduce an amendment to the bill on the House floor that would have exempted Doña Ana County and Sierra County from being subject to it until the year 2030. That's when the tax is expected to be halted.

But the amendment didn't pass.

McCamley said the counties voted to impose the sales taxes after authorization from the Legislature. And, under those provisions, "we did the right thing."

"The state is once again trying to move the goal posts," he said. "Just let us finish our program, but don't punish people who were operating under a good set of assumptions before."

McCamley in 2007 was a member of the Doña Ana County commission and a major proponent of the spaceport sales tax, including the portion for education. The idea was that the money would help prepare students for high-tech spaceport jobs.

Several onlookers said the bill is expected to have a tougher route in the Senate.

McCamley said he's spoken to the bill's sponsor in the Senate, who's agreed to place the amendment exempting Doña Ana and Sierra Counties until 2030. Plus, he noted Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, belong to the leadership in that chamber.

"They understand where we're coming from," he said.

State Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, said a number of legislators weren't part of the discussion in the mid-2000s when the spaceport sales-tax authorization was being set up. And they may not understand what it's like for Doña Ana County residents to have self-imposed the tax and, years down the road, have seen few tangible benefits outside the spending on schools.

"We were the ones that voted for that," he said in a phone interview. "That's an argument that's lost on many people up here that weren't in our situation. A deal is a deal, and we shouldn't go back on that."

A spokesman for Gov. Susana Martinez could not be reached for comment.

If an amendment is added in a Senate version of the bill, it would have to be reconciled with the House to move forward.

Look back

Doña Ana and Sierra Counties allocated one-fourth of their overall spaceport sales-tax funds to schools for science and math education.

The taxes presented a new source of funding for the schools to boost science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs. Until now, that extra revenue hasn't been factored into the state's school funding formula the same way as another type of school revenue — property taxes.

But HB 13 would change that.

If spaceport sales-tax dollars are accounted for along with property taxes, the funding formula would result in a cut back in state dollars — another major funding source — for LCPS, the Gadsden Independent School District, Hatch Valley Public Schools and Sierra County schools, officials have said. The dollars cut from local schools then would be redistributed to other schools across the state.

As for HB 13, Dean said he is "still holding out hope that it doesn't get through the Legislature as it's currently presented." Because, that means LCPS would have to slash the extra STEM programming the sales-tax dollars now funds, he said.

"Without that money, our science and math and engineering programs at the secondary level are dramatically going to suffer," he said.

Spaceport America, a proposed launch site for commercial space vehicles, is located in southeast Sierra County. Voters in Doña Ana County narrowly OK'd a 1/4 of 1 percent sales tax in 2007 to help build the $212 million project. Sierra County voters approved a similar tax in 2008.

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